So far, the hiring of controversial former Marseille and Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has paid real dividends for Tottenham Hotspur. De Zerbi has everyone, even Harry Redknapp, buzzing with positivity about the club, as he has gotten Spurs to believe again and pushed players like Micky van de Ven and Joao Palhinha who were treading water into being the best versions of themselves.
Tottenham do not survive the drop without De Zerbi, and that has been recognized widely by the fan base. Yet it is important to remember that in order to hire De Zerbi spur of the moment with Premier League safety far from guaranteed, Spurs had to make serious concessions in order to convince the Italian manager into joining, including a big salary and a big say over what happens at the club.
And now, Spurs fans are beginning to see the first signs of the downside of hiring De Zerbi that they were warned about. De Zerbi is zealously pushing for the signing of his old Brighton protege Jan Paul van Hecke to add to the defense, even though, for free, he could have brought back an even better player in the form of Luka Vuskovic, who was one of the best players in the Bundesliga last season while at Hamburg.
Roberto De Zerbi could cost Tottenham Luka Vuskovic
Tottenham are in fierce negotiations for Van Hecke, but Brighton are seeing how intent De Zerbi and Van Hecke are on a move. They are now using the leverage against Spurs and making Tottenham look like absolute amateurs, with David Ornstein of The Athletic reporting a bombshell that Vuskovic now favors a move to Brighton amidst the Seagulls 30 million pound offer for the player.
The offer is downright insulting for a 19 year old central defender who was one of the top five players in the entire Bundesliga last season, with a shadow of a doubt, but it is a deal with the devil that Tottenham could end up accepting because of Roberto De Zerbi.
Spurs have been pushing so hard to sign Jan Paul van Hecke despite not needing him with Luka Vuskovic in tow and Marcos Senesi already signed for free, and the only reason why they are driving so particularly hard after the player is at the behest of De Zerbi; they are basically contractually obligated to back De Zerbi ten times harder than they have any manager before him, including the superior Mauricio Pochettino.
De Zerbi came to Tottenham with whispers of an ego problem, of a stubborn man who will take total control and do things only his way regardless of how it will affect others. The Italian manager is charismatic and even brilliant at times, but he has a dark side. And it could cost Spurs their most valuable asset.
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